City of Splendors

Episode Recap: Season II, Episode IV

Roughing It

29

JUN/17

H ot on the trail of the missing emissary, the party had wandered into the lands of the Red Fang Orcs. After a half-day’s ride, following the path of destruction created by the warring bands, they came across the remains of the emissary’s camp. Searching the ashes and rubble, they were suddenly ambushed by a group of archers and their mystical commander. Fighting their aggressors off, the team discovered a strange, horned ring on the finger of this pack’s leader.

Pushing onward, they came across a bridge that had been recently destroyed, blocking their path across a steep ravine. But with some cunning survivalist skills, they managed to fashion a makeshift rope bridge and cross the gap — after a mild altercation with some local wildlife.
Following the trail toward a fortified camp, the party approached quietly and planned their attack. Approaching the palisade from the rear, they devised a multi-pronged assault that took the orcs completely by surprise. It was not so much a battle as an execution as the four adventurers descended upon the camp from all angles, handily dispatching the foot soldiers, taking one prisoner. But while searching the camp, they uncovered key details in their investigation. One of the orcs, a savage-looking shaman clad in furs and feathers, bore not the emblem of the Red Fang, but a deep violet eye painted across his face.

They also rescued one of the camp’s prisoners, who revealed himself as Sami Farzi, the emissary’s cartographer and a member of her entourage. While the party’s orcish prisoner refused to cooperate with their interrogation, Farzi revealed to them his knowledge garnered while being held in the camp, telling them of a stronghold to the northeast where he suspects the emissary may have been taken. With daylight fading, the party recuperated in the woods and prepared an assault on the fortress under the cover of darkness…